Government Contracts Blog

The Department of Labor has announced the 2019 minimum wage rate for contracts covered by Executive Order 13658, Establishing a Minimum Wage for Contractors.

The 2014 executive order raised the hourly minimum wage paid by contractors to workers performing work on covered federal contracts to $10.10 per hour starting January 1, 2015. For covered tipped employees, the order set an hourly cash wage of at least $4.90.

Today, President Trump signed into law the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019(H.R. 5515). The bill passed both houses with broad bipartisan support. The House approved the bill by a vote of 359 to 54 and the Senate by a vote of 87 to 10. The law authorizes FY 2019 appropriations and sets forth policies for Department of Defense programs and activities, including military personnel strengths.

Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-99, issued June 15, contains two interim rules amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation. Item I—Use of Products and Services of Kaspersky Lab (FAR Case 2018-010) implements section 1634 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (PL 115-91) and goes into effect on July 16, 2018. Item II—Violations of Arms Control Treaties or Agreements with the United States (FAR Case 2017-018) implements section 1290 of the NDAA FY 2017 (PL 114-328) and has a June 15, 2018, effective date. Comments on both interim rules are due by August 14, 2018. The FAC also contains a Small Entity Compliance Guide, which indicates that a regulatory flexibility analysis was prepared for each rule.

The Department of Defense on May 30 issued eight final rules amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Supplement. Five rules implement recommendations from the DoD Regulatory Reform Task Force, while three rules implement sections of fiscal year National Defense Authorization Acts.

A Small Business Administration notice advises the public that the agency has revised its white paper, entitled “SBA’s Size Standards Methodology,” which describes the SBA’s methodology for establishing, reviewing and adjusting its small business size standards pursuant to the Small Business Act (PL 85-536) and related legislative guidelines. Under the Act, as amended, the SBA’s Administrator has authority to establish small business size standards for federal government programs. The white paper provides a detailed description of the size standards methodology.

The Department of Defense has issued Class Deviation 2018-O0012, which raises the threshold for obtaining certified cost or pricing data to $2 million.

FAR 15.403-4 sets the threshold for obtaining CCPD at $750,000. However, section 811 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (PL 115-91) increased the threshold for obtaining CCPD under the Truth in Negotiations Act (10 USC 2306a) and 41 USC 3502 from $750,000 to $2 million.

A Department of Defense notice announces an early engagement opportunity regarding implementation of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (PL 115-91) within the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement. The public is invited to submit early inputs on sections of the NDAA for FY 2018 via the Defense Acquisition Regulations System website at http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/dars/index.html. The website will be updated when early inputs will no longer be accepted. This venue does not replace or circumvent the rulemaking process. DoD will engage in formal rulemaking, in accordance with 41 USC 1303, when it determines that rulemaking is required to implement a section of the NDAA for FY 2018 within the DFARS. The text of the notice appears at 83 FR 9501.